Britain’s highest court ruled yesterday that only biological and not trans women meet the definition of a woman under equality laws, a landmark decision greeted with concern by trans supporters but welcomed by the government as bringing clarity.
The much anticipated ruling centred on whether a trans woman with a gender recognition certificate (GRC), a formal document giving legal recognition of someone’s new gender, is protected from discrimination as a woman under Britain’s Equality Act.
The decision confirms that single-sex services for women such as refuges, hospital wards and sports can exclude trans women, clearing up legal ambiguity.
Transgender campaigners said the decision could lead to discrimination, especially over employment issues.
“The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms ‘women’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex,” deputy president of the Supreme Court Patrick Hodge said.
“But we counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph for one or more groups in our society at the expense of another – it is not.”
In the US, legal challenges are underway after President Donald Trump issued executive orders that include barring transgender people from military service.
Yesterday’s judgement in Britain followed legal action by a campaign group, For Women Scotland (FWS), against guidance issued by the devolved Scottish government that accompanied a 2018 law designed to increase the proportion of women on public sector boards.
The guidance said a trans woman with a gender recognition certificate was legally a woman. FWS lost its case in the Scottish courts, but the Supreme Court ruled in its favour.
“Today the judges have said what we always believed to be the case: that women are protected by their biological sex, that sex is real and that women can now feel safe that services and spaces designated for women are for women,” Susan Smith, co-director of FWS, told cheering supporters outside the court.
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